In a time when marriage is being redefined, Mike Thorley opens the Bible to rediscover the original purpose for marriage. Marriage was instituted by God not primarily for procreation or recreation, but as an illustration. It is a living drama meant to portray for us the answers to the most fundamental questions of the human soul: Why am I here? What is God like? How do I relate to Him? I Married a Model is a celebration of marriage as God's call to a relationship that He longs to have with the bride whom He loves and gave His life for.

Variety is the word that probably best summarises this collection: variety of form and feeling, subject matter and mood. Using poetic forms and styles from free verse to the sonnet, from the Japanese tanka to the French triolet, the poems touch the larger issues of life - loss, ageing and war - as well as the mundane and everyday - motels, malls and mowing. From delight in the natural world (and mixed delight at the everyday) to the esoterica of spit-polishing and bait-hunting, they are meditative, wry, serious or light-hearted.

'Michael Thorley's poetry combines wit and emotional...